‘It’s Not Really a Part of Standard Practice’: Institutional Silencing of Sexuality Within Australian Mental Health Settings

2021 ◽  
pp. 104973232110613
Author(s):  
Kristi Urry ◽  
Anna Chur-Hansen ◽  
Carole Khaw
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Mental Health Clinicians ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Mental Health Settings ◽  
Workplace Cultures

Research seeking to understand and improve sexuality-related practice in mental health settings has paid little attention to the institutional context in which clinicians’ practice is embedded. Through a social constructionist lens, we used thematic analysis to examine how 22 Australian mental health clinicians implicated the wider institutional context when discussing and making sense of sexuality-related silence within their work. Interviews were part of a study exploring participants’ perceptions of sexuality and sexual health in their work more generally. Broader silences that shaped and reinforced participants’ perceptions and practice choices were situated in professional education; workplace cultures; and the tools, procedures and policies that directed clinical practice. We argue that sexuality-related silence in mental health settings is located in the institutional context in which clinicians learn and work, and discuss how orienting to this broader context will benefit research and interventions to improve sexuality-related practice across health settings.

What is the impact of staff wearing uniforms in psychiatric inpatient settings?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Collingwood ◽  
Laura McKenzie-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Psychiatric Inpatient ◽  
Ideal Self ◽  
Search Terms ◽  
Mental Health Settings ◽  
Inpatient Settings ◽  
The Impact

Background: Uniform has traditionally been worn in psychiatric inpatient and other mental health settings, but there has been a move to non-uniform in recent years. Some services have made the change back to uniform, raising questionsabout the potential impact on patients and staff.Aim: To review the impact of uniform within a psychiatric inpatient or mental health setting.Method: Databases were searched for articles exploring the impact of uniform use using specified search terms. Articles were assessed for suitability with inclusion and exclusion criteria, critically appraised, then analysed for themes using thematic analysis.Results: 17 papers were included in the review. Thematic analysis identified five main themes and 29 subthemes. Main themes were Attitudes and interactions, A freer environment, Are you both nurses?, The ‘ideal self’ and There are more important things. A critical appraisal of the articles suggested issues with validityand reliability, which are discussed.Discussion: Studies identified that wearing non-uniform facilitated positive changes in both patients and staff. This raises the potential negative impact of uniform on both patients and staff, and the role of power imbalance in these settings is discussed. Further themes around identification of staff out of uniform were considered.Implications for practice: The use of uniform in mental health and psychiatric inpatient settings should be considered carefully, due to the potential negative impact, whilst also recognising the importance of staff identification and supporting professional identity.

Continuing Education Requirements Are Unnecessary and Are Not Relevant to My Professional Competence

2019 ◽  
pp. 95-100
Author(s):  
Jeffrey E. Barnett ◽  
Jeffrey Zimmerman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Continuing Education ◽  
Professional Competence ◽  
Clinical Effectiveness ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Mental Health Clinicians ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Professional Activities ◽  
License Renewal

Even the best trained and most highly skilled mental health clinicians must take active steps to maintain, update, and expand their knowledge and skills. Failure to do so on an ongoing basis places one’s professional competence at risk. This chapter explains the fragile nature of competence and the steps to take to help ensure the maintenance of ongoing clinical effectiveness. Enhancing one’s competence to add new skills and to expand one’s clinical practice into new areas also is addressed. Continuing requirements for license renewal are described and placed within the broader context of each mental health practitioner’s overarching ethical obligation to provide the highest quality professional services possible. Specific recommendations for achieving this goal are provided in the hope that mental health clinicians will incorporate them into their ongoing professional activities.

Becoming Licensed Means That I Am Now Competent

2019 ◽  
pp. 7-11
Author(s):  
Jeffrey E. Barnett ◽  
Jeffrey Zimmerman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Clinical Competence ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Hard Work ◽  
Mental Health Clinicians ◽  
Clinical Experiences ◽  
Graduate Coursework ◽  
And Training ◽  
Over Time

Mental health clinicians invest in many years of hard work to develop their clinical competence through graduate coursework and through supervised clinical experiences. All this is done with the ultimate goal of becoming independently licensed to practice in one’s profession. Because licensure is such an important event, signifying the culmination of so much education and training, it may be natural to believe that becoming licensed means that one is now clinically competent. This chapter addresses how clinical competence and licensure should be viewed and understood. Licensure assesses one’s competence to enter the profession, but it cannot guarantee competence in all areas of clinical practice at the time of licensure or in the future. How to maintain, update, and expand one’s competence over time is addressed. Risks and threats to competence are discussed, and recommendations are provided for ensuring one’s ongoing competence over time.

scholarly journals Attitudes of mental health clinicians toward perceived inaccuracy of a schizophrenia diagnosis in routine clinical practice

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana Tzur Bitan ◽  
Ariella Grossman Giron ◽  
Gady Alon ◽  
Shlomo Mendlovic ◽  
Yuval Bloch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Routine Clinical Practice ◽  
Mental Health Clinicians

scholarly journals Clinical standards in psychiatry

2000 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 83-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Geddes ◽  
Simon Wessely
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Research Evidence ◽  
National Service ◽  
Mental Health Clinicians ◽  
Health It ◽  
Clinical Standards ◽  
National Service Framework ◽  
Service Framework

It is impossible to avoid the plethora of clinical practice guidelines and other forms of practice policy and protocols that have been showered on psychiatrists and other mental health clinicians over the last decade. Several motivations lie behind this phenomenon – reducing the amount of unnecessary variation in clinical practice, improving clinician's access to research evidence and summarising available evidence to assist individual patient and clinician decision-making. With the arrival of the National Service Framework for Mental Health, it is timely to take stock of the evidence requirements for developing valid clinical standards.

Assessing Sexual Assault and Reacting to Client Disclosures During Assessment

2021 ◽  
pp. 35-42
Author(s):  
Amie R. Newins ◽  
Laura C. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Mental Health Settings ◽  
History Of ◽  
Assessment Measures

In mental health settings, not all survivors of sexual assault will present due to concerns related to their sexual assault, and even among those who do, some may not disclose this history without prompting. Given the prevalence of sexual abuse and sexual assault, all clients should be screened for a history of exposure to these experiences. A wide range of self-report and interview measures are available for this purpose; a brief overview of measures available for both child and adult populations is provided. In this chapter, considerations for choosing assessment measures are discussed to help providers select appropriate measures to use in their clinical practice. In particular, this chapter provides information about how language in assessment measures may affect disclosure from clients. Finally, this chapter provides recommendations for reacting to client disclosures during an assessment.

Bridging the Gap between Research and Practice: A Discussion about How to Integrate Evidence-Based Interventions in Clinical Practice Through Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-41
Author(s):  
Hanni Flaherty
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Education Research ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Clinical Case ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Facilitating Factors ◽  
Mental Health Settings ◽  
Work Education

The benefits of incorporating evidence-based interventions (EBI) in mental health settings are well documented. However, many mental health settings continue not to adopt or implement evidence-based interventions despite the benefits EBIs offer providers. This formula creates a gap between research and practice, which needs to be addressed. Evidence-based practice and interventions are defined, and facilitating factors are described in detail and is followed by a clinical case example to provide further insight. Implications for social work education, research, and practice are also discussed. The chasm between research and practice, will begin to close as practitioners’ concerns are addressed through education.

Who decides when people can have sex? Australian mental health clinicians’ perceptions of sexuality and autonomy

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (13-14) ◽  
pp. 2188-2199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristi Urry ◽  
Anna Chur-Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Professional Practice ◽  
Safe Sex ◽  
Sexual Expression ◽  
Mental Health Clinicians ◽  
Mental Health Setting ◽  
Mental Health Nurses ◽  
Mental Health Settings ◽  
Depth Interviews

Sexuality is a central aspect of human experience but there is evidence that this is largely constrained, pathologised or ignored in mental health settings. We conducted in-depth interviews with 22 psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health nurses working across a variety of settings in four Australian cities. Sexuality was most often perceived as relevant in the mental health setting when it was simultaneously constructed as dangerous. Participants located this danger in sexual expression itself or within individuals who, because of mental illness, lacked the autonomy required to successfully engage in ‘safe’ sex. We discuss these findings and their implications for research and professional practice.

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